‘Justice must be for all’: why court intermediaries are vital for vulnerable people

Concerns are growing that a service to help people follow court proceedings in England and Wales is to be privatised and deregulatedAt Highbury youth court in north London, Elliott Rogers (not his real name), a 15-year-old boy with severe cognitive and communication difficulties, has been waiting three hours for his trial to start. He has been charged with the theft of an iPhone, but no magistrates have turned up, and the court clerk is scrambling to raise one to come in at no notice. The boy si